On Sunday, we left our Airbnb in Thunder Bay and drove over the border to Minnesota. We spent almost the entire day driving until we decided to sleep at a rest stop next to the highway. It was a very hot night, and we both felt like we could hardly breathe in the van. We tried to open all the windows, but it didn’t help. It was also a creepy rest stop, so Vinz decided to continue driving through the night. He drove two more hours, and then we tried to sleep at a truck stop which seemed less creepy. We slept horribly and decided to spend the next night in a hotel. We drove to South Dakota and stayed at a hotel in Murdo. We spent that evening in a bar nearby and played a new game that Ricco gave us before we left.
The next day we drove to Badlands National Park. I was especially excited about this park because it was one of the first places I saved while researching for our trip. It exceeded my expectations!
When we entered the park, thousands of prairie dogs were running around.
We walked three of the most common trails: Window trail, Door trail, and Notch trail. They call it a trail, but it is really just a 1 min walk to a beautiful outlook.
In the afternoon, we visited Wall Drug Store. The place had been advertised for over 30 miles, so we felt we had to go see what it was. It mainly had souvenir shops and other touristy things. I bought a new sweater, and we ate a very unhealthy sandwich with lots of gravy.
Later, we drove around the park at sunset and chose a nice overlook to sleep.
The next morning we got up at 4:30 am and drove to Big Badlands Overlook to watch the sunrise.
Then we went on a 3-hour hike (Castle and Medicine Trail), where we saw lots of white-tailed deer.
Later we also saw some bighorn sheep, bison, and pronghorns.
For the second night in Badlands National Park, we went to Sage Creek Campground, a free first-come-first-serve campground with no electricity, water, and internet. Lots of prairie dogs were running around at the campground, and several bison were nearby. But the most amazing thing about the campground was that there were absolutely no mosquitos! For the first time on our trip, we could spend the entire afternoon and evening outside without worrying about getting bitten. Vinz cooked a great omelet for dinner, and then we walked up a hill nearby for some silhouette shots during sunset.
Today we leave Badlands and head towards Mount Rushmore. We have reservations at a campground at Yellowstone National Park next week, but the park is closed at the moment because of flooding and because the main bridge to the park broke. We would love to stay in Badlands National Park a little longer, but a heat wave (40°C) is coming in two days, so we want to be far away by then!